Noah Feldman, Columnist

Teachers Need Free-Speech Protection, Too

The courts ignore the public good by denying them teachable, if profane, moments.

June 3, 2016 at 4:24 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

Teachable moment.
Photographer: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg

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Are teachers entitled to free speech in the classroom? As a teacher of free-speech law, I've got a particular interest in this broadly important question. Yesterday a federal appeals court said the answer was no -- at least at public schools below the university level.

The decision makes some sense in light of existing precedent. But the Supreme Court has never directly addressed the issue. When it does, it should consider the possibility that the whole law of public workplace free speech has gone awry -- and that teachers as well as other public employees should be given greater latitude to express their opinions.